Apocalypse Reset: My Crab Can Heal the World!

Barns stretches his arms behind his head, taking one last glance at Lantafort's underground. The glowing lanterns, the maze of stonework bridges, the hum of daily life - he could get used to spending time here, and now that the dwarves have just shown him a way to speed back and forth, he might do so.

But for now, it's time to head home.

Jennifer stands beside him, adjusting her new ambassadorial sash like it's still sinking in that she actually has the job. "Well, I guess this is where we part ways for now," she says. "You sure you boys can make it back without me holding your hands?"

Barns smirks. "It'll be tough, but we'll try to manage."

Clancy clicks his claws together. "FAST TRAIN. SHORT TRIP."

Skado snickers. "You say that like you discovered it yourself."

"Well, enjoy you ride back to Dimartino. I'll help hold things down here. And Barns?"

He raises an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"Try not to get into too much trouble. Knowing you, that might be a tall order," she winks.

"No promises," Barns laughs, stepping onto the platform leading to the dwarven fast travel tunnels.

A few dwarves in thick work gear stand near the tracks, watching them with idle curiosity. One of them, the same headband-wearing dwarf who'd welcomed them to the Festivale, gives Barns a thumbs-up. "Ride's all set for you, mi amigo. Don't puke, honey!"

Barns eyes the tunnel warily. "Not planning on it, but now I feel like I should be concerned."

The dwarf just laughs, signaling to his crew. A moment later, a strange, metal-lined cart rolls up on the tracks, barely making a sound. It's built for speed, reinforced with dwarven craftsmanship.

The tunnels are designed for smooth, rapid travel, powered by some underground force Barns doesn't even want to begin guessing at.

"Once we launch you, just press the big red button and it'll send you right back, whenever you like!"

Clancy barely squeezes into the cart, and Skado takes a seat with a sigh, clearly exhausted from last night's 'scientific research' - the boatload of experimental dwarven drugs he consumed as part of his pharmacology investigation.

Barns slaps the side of the cart. "Alright, let's test this bad boy out."

The dwarf operator grins, pulling a lever. "Dimartino, express route. You'll be there before your boots cool off." Stay connected with My Virtual Library Empire

The cart lurches forward. Then, before Barns can even process it, they're *flying *straight through the underground.

Wind roars past them as the cart rockets through the tunnel, breaking the sound barrier. The dark stony walls blur as they whiz by so quickly they can scarcely see. Barns grips the sides instinctively, his stomach doing flips. Clancy, on the other hand, is loving it, clicking his claws with excitement.

"FASTER!"

"Oh, shut up," Skado groans, looking slightly queasy.

The ride lasts only about twenty minutes, but by the time they emerge, all three of them have had their fill. The cart slows smoothly before stopping at a hidden entrance just underneath Dimartino's castle.

Barns steps out, shaking his head in amazement. "That was insane. When did they even build a tunnel all the way here?"

Clancy scuttles forward, still clicking. "KING REQUIRES OWN FAST TRAVEL NETWORK."

Barns ignores him, focusing instead on the fact that they've beaten Maria's timeline by nearly an entire day. He grins.

Time to make an entrance.

He opens a hatch and they emerge somewhere in the castle kitchens. He can't believe nobody has ever found this place before - although, if they did, all that would have awaited them was an endless tunnel of darkness.

Clancy is only barely able to fit through the hatch - it takes some jostling about with Skado and Barns' combined strength to squeeze him through.

"We'll...get that widened for you, big guy."

Back inside the castle, Maria is pacing the grand hall, finalizing strategies with Underhill and Osmond when the doors swing open.

Barns strolls in casually, hands in his pockets. "Miss us?"

Maria stops mid-sentence, blinking. "You're back already? What, did you walk through the whole night?"

Skado saunters in behind Barns, rubbing his temples. "Let's just say we're now officially part of the 'Ironblood' club."

Maria pinches the bridge of her nose. "Do I even want to know what that's supposed to mean?"

Clancy clicks. "DWARVES FAST."

Now that's something that catches Maria's attention. "Dwarves?" she asks. "You met them, then? What were they like?"

"I'll save the details for another time," Barns says. "They let us use an underground railway - although I don't even know if I'd call that thing a train, to be honest. It got us from Lantafort to Dimartino in twenty minutes, tops."

Maria is amazed by the news. "This...changes everything!" she exclaims. "Why did this never come up before?"

"It's the dwarves that manage the whole network - they're independent of Commander Brahn and the humans in Lantafort."

"Still, to think they've been able to keep such impressive technology hidden..." Skado reflects.

"You can't tell your mom, okay? Ironblood secret - that's what they said. Although I guess we already spilled the beans over here..."

Maria glowers at the two men behind her, Underhill and Osmond. "The secret stays between us, then. Got it?"

She's looking straight at Underhill when she talks.

"Fine, fine," Underhill waves his hand dismissively. "I don't know why everyone always assumes I'm scheming something."

"Aren't you?" Maria snips.

Osmond steps forward, his usual smirk replaced with something more serious. "Not to interject, my darling dove, but it is quite fortunate that you've all arrived early. Seems the 'horde' we've been tracking has been making some unusual movements. We should enact our plan soon."

"Horde?" Skado asks, looking around at everyone.

Barns runs a hand through his hair. "Something about zombies."

"That's a...light way to put it, Barnie," Osmond smiles weakly. "About two thousand of the undead, just miles away from Ordella and with no vampires to keep them at bay."

Maria exhales, already rolling over the next hundred steps in her head. She is stressed to no end, but the management of Dimartino is something that envigorates her more than anything ever has. Osmond has no complaints, either - Maria's nightly 'stress relief' sessions have the Demon Lord barely able to keep up.

"Everyone on the same page, then? Let's get to work."

Maria details the plan in an elaborate step-by-step fashion. Barns is reminded of the last time he put together plans - it was in Dimartino's old hotel, and he and Clancy were brainstorming ways to murder the Princess. How the tables have turned.

Loathe as he is to admit, Maria's a far better planner. They have organized a pincer formation led by three teams - a central 'baiting' team spearheaded by Barns and Clancy, and two teams to serve as a flank to pick off outlier zombies and make sure the horde proceeds as planned to the trenches.

They'd launch their assault tomorrow - and Barns couldn't wait. Even after the planning session, he can't get zombie off the mind; it has been some time since his last battle, and he craves some action. With two thousand zombies, he's sure that means gaining some levels, too.

…

In the evening, Barns gets a moment to unwind. He finds himself in the Adventurer Guild, sprawled out on one of the couches. Roscoe sits across from him, polishing Crashing Wave with meticulous focus. The blade is his precious treasure, bestowed upon him by the legendary hero of Dimartino. To Roscoe, it's the most priceless thing in the world.

Barns watches Roscoe's determined care, an inspiring sight in its own way. "You're really serious about this training thing, huh?"

Roscoe nods, not looking up. "I have to be. I'm gonna be strong enough to fight by your side, someday."

Barns leans back, exhaling. "Yep, you will. I have no doubts about that."

He thinks about the zombie horde - the trenches have been dug, and the operation would commence early in the morning. As much as he'd like to include Roscoe, it was still too dangerous...but he'd find a way to get the young Adventurer some combat experience soon. Maybe the duo could hit up the Mantis Shrimp.

Roscoe grips the hilt of his sword. "But until then, I have to keep training. I've upped the difficulty today, you know. 120 each, push-ups, sit-ups. And I doubled my run distance - ten times around the castle grounds, not just the five you told me to do."

Barns watches him, seeing something familiar in his eyes - determination, the kind that doesn't fade. He grins, reaching over to ruffle Roscoe's hair.

"You're improving quickly, huh?" Barns asks. It seems almost too quickly. He worried that Roscoe might be pushing himself too hard.

Roscoe looks up, blushing slightly. "Well...there might be a reason for that," the boy confesses.

A slight moment of trepidation creeps into Barns' stomach. He's not about to have an 'afterschool special', is he? If the kid's on drugs to improve his performance, Barns isn't even sure what he'd say.

Roscoe exhales sharply. "I talked to Zelia, and she gave me a skill. She said she can only do it once for me, but it's a good one."

Barns exhales. 'Good,' he thinks. 'Nothing like I was thinking.'

"Well, what's the skill?" his curiosity is fully piqued.

Roscoe grins from ear to ear. "Hero Affinity! S Rank!"